Iran: U.S. used spies to get nuke info 08 Dec 2007 Iran has sent a formal protest note to Washington for “spying” on Iran’s nuclear activities, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Saturday. The note was handed over to the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, which looks after U.S. interests in Iran in the absence of diplomatic relations between Tehran and Washington, the state IRNA news agency said.www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-12-08-iran_N.htm

Iran drops dollar from oil deals: report 08 Dec 2007 Major crude producer Iran has completely stopped carrying out its oil transactions in dollars, Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said on Saturday, labelling the greenback an “unreliable” currency. “At the moment, selling oil in dollars has been completely halted, in line with the policy of selling crude in non-dollar currencies,” Nozari was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency. [A(nother) illegal Bush invasion is surely on the way.]afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jGC7KSKjsKYUTGAF1oR04-yOpBgg

Gates says Iran still a threat [Never as big of a threat as Bush, though.] 08 Dec 2007 Iran poses a threat to the United States and the Middle East despite a U.S. intelligence assessment that Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003, Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Saturday.news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071208/pl_nm/usa_iran_gates_dc_2

Gates says Iran seeks to cause chaos 08 Dec 2007 Pentagon chief Robert Gates lashed out at Iran on Saturday for seeking to cause chaos “everywhere you turn” regardless of the blood spilled and said its neighbors must demand that Tehran renounce any intention of pursuing nuclear weapons.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071208/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/gates_iran_32

Review of Iran Intelligence to Be Sought —As Conservatives Reject New NIE, Republican Senators to Urge Congressional Panel 07 Dec 2007 Senate Republicans are planning to call for a congressional commission to investigate the conclusions of the new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran as well as the specific intelligence that went into it, according to congressional sources. The move is the first official challenge, but it comes amid growing backlash from conservatives and neoconservatives unhappy about the assessment that Iran halted a clandestine nuclear weapons program four years ago.www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
article/2007/12/06/AR2007120602457.html

“The smell of deals is getting stronger…” (Updated)
Arablinks
…it’s still not clear if the truce between the US and Iran has launched similar moves by Arab countries toward Iran and Israel, to start a qualitatively new chapter in the entire Middle East. The smell of deals is getting stronger and the timing is intriguing, especially in Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon – three issues that distinguish regional and international relations. The preparations are underway to create a US military base in Iraq, by virtue of the understanding and agreement governing bilateral US-Iraqi ties, and this requires an understanding with Iran, according to the analysts…www.uruknet.de/?p=39015

Cheney: No reason to doubt the new intelligence report on Iran
JPOST.COM STAFF
US Vice President Dick Cheney on Thursday said he had no reason to doubt a new US intelligence report assessing that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003. “There’s always the possibility that circumstances will change. But I think they’ve done the best job they can with the intelligence that’s available,” Cheney told Politico.com. The vice president stressed that the administration would not change its policy towards Iran…www.uruknet.de/?p=39009

Review of Iran Intelligence to Be Sought
As Conservatives Reject New NIE, Republican Senators to Urge Congressional Panel
Robin Wright and Glenn Kessler, Washington Post Staff Writers
Senate Republicans are planning to call for a congressional commission to investigate the conclusions of the new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran as well as the specific intelligence that went into it, according to congressional sources. The move is the first official challenge, but it comes amid growing backlash from conservatives and neoconservatives unhappy about the assessment that Iran halted a clandestine nuclear weapons program four years ago. It reflects how quickly the NIE has become politicized, with critics even going after the analysts who wrote it, and shows a split among Republicans….www.uruknet.de/?p=39004

Gulf countries speak out against military option in Iran
Africasia, UK
Gulf countries, cautious about the nuclear standoff between the United States and Iran, signalled loudly at a regional security conference on Saturday their opposition to any military option against Tehran. Washington, wrong-footed by its own National Intelligence Estimate in its accusations that Iran wanted nuclear weapons, has emphasized that no options have been ruled out in forcing it to end its nuclear enrichment programme. The NIE on Tuesday said that Iran, which insists its current programme is for peaceful power generation, had halted a secret nuclear weapons programme four years ago…www.uruknet.de/?p=39019

Intelligence Expert Who Rewrote Book on Iranwww.truthout.org/docs_2006/120807B.shtml
The Guardian UK’s Ewen MacAskill writes: “The intelligence came from an exotic variety of sources: there was the so-called Laptop of Death; there was the Iranian commander who mysteriously disappeared in Turkey. Also in the mix was video footage of a nuclear plant in central Iran and intercepts of Iranian telephone calls by the British listening station GCHQ.”

No policy is there to address the Iranian danger
By via Daily Star, Lebanon(SF Bay Area Independent Media Center (Indybay))
Saturday, December 8, 2007 : The recent United States National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), which reports that Iran once had a “nuclear weapons program” but suspended it in 2003, means that there will probably be no American attack on …www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/12/08/18465745.php

Iran ‘s first vice president to visit Syria
MehrNews.com – Tehran,Iran
8 (MNA) — Iran’s First Vice President Parviz Davudi is to visit Syria on
Wednesday at the official invitation of his Syrian counterpart Farooq Al
Shara’a, …www.mehrnews.ir/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=600978